Misterlee/ This Disquiet Dog

Misterlee
This Disquiet Dog
(Rubber Czech)

Misterlee shun common songwriting conventions, which makes them a difficult band to describe. In fact their genre listing in iTunes is ‘unclassifiable’ which sums the band up quite nicely. Their influences are wide ranging, from Scott Walker to Captain Beefheart, and they come across somewhat like Henry Rollins backed by Beck. It's worth noting too that the anti-folk movement have taken them under their wing (they have appeared at several festivals) but even that doesn’t really cover it.
So what of the album? This Disquiet Dog is a real mix of genres. From spoken word poetry to punk ('Don’t Kill Anyone Today') and country ('We’re Alive Here'), there’s something for everyone - yet with enough menace in the delivery to feel like a bullish nothing for nobody.
With album opener ‘Adolf Hitler’, a spoken word song about someone who suffers no mental illnesses but thinks he’s the Fuhrer, Misterlee set out their stall and set the pace. This Disquiet Dog continues along the same lines, with ‘We’re Alive Here’ being the most accessible track on the album. All in all I like this a lot, I’m just not sure many others will.